The campaign will need to gather approximately 19,000 signatures by Aug. 26, “Recall Carty” founder Tom Morrissey said. He said his campaign is progressing.

“We can only move forward from here, and there’s a strong likelihood that we’re going to get these signatures,” Morrissey said.

He said Toledo’s economy is not doing well.

“Our city certainly cannot be called a success by any measure, as far as economically growing, business-wise, because we’re just business unfriendly,” Morrissey said.

Katerina Bekyarska, spokeswoman for the mayor’s office, said she recognizes Morrissey’s right to organize the campaign, but does not understand why he wants the mayor recalled. She said Toledo’s distinctions as “Top Ten City of the Future,” “Most Business Friendly City in North America” and “81st Most Livable City” have been awarded during Finkbeiner’s term.

“I don’t understand why citizens would want to recall a mayor during whose term this city has received all these awards and all that recognition,” Bekyarska said.

She said the office is not letting Morrissey’s campaign “get to us.” She said she would not comment on the accusations against the mayor listed on the campaign’s Web site.

“They’re following the procedure available by law to do something like this,” Bekyarska said. “That’s the beauty of democracy. They have the right to do what they’re doing, and the mayor and his staff will continue working for the City of Toledo.”

Morrissey said the campaign has improved since its inauguration on May 29.

“It’s been quite a ride, but momentum is building, and things are moving faster than when they started,” Morrissey said.According to the campaign’s official Web site, around 50 volunteers wearing “Recall Carty” T-shirts gathered at the June 23 Interstate 280 bridge ceremony. The campaign gathered 200 signatures, Morrissey said. He said the campaign efforts are going well.

“Overall it’s been pretty good. I’ve had a couple of 70-year-old men threaten to beat me up, but other than that, I’ll have people sign that are really, really upset and they’ll give me their whole story,” Morrissey said.

Morrissey said there is sufficient public interest to recall Finkbeiner.

“There are enough people out there that want Carty recalled, it’s just a matter of getting those signatures,” he said.

This entry was posted
on Friday, June 29th, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under TFP Version 1.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.